Police raids around Seattle’s International District related to a property theft ring netted 25 arrests, including one woman suspected of selling illegally obtained shrimp out of a van.

The Thursday morning raids were the culmination of a three-month investigation into drug activity near the intersection of 12th Avenue and South Jackson Street.

In a statement Friday, a Seattle Police Department spokesman said the action was aimed at cleaning out an outdoor drug market that had formed in the area.

“My officers were seeing car prowls and drug deals out there, and growing unrest in the community,” says Capt. Pierre Davis, head of the police precinct where the raids took place. “Once officers started putting these cases together, one arrest led to another.”

Dubbed “Operation Rock and Hock” – apparent references to crack cocaine and fencing stolen goods – officers with the Major Crimes Task Force launched an investigation into several businesses in the area. Informants told police dealers were selling drugs and food stamp cards on the street.

Detectives seized 804 computers, iPods, and cellular phones from one store they believed had been stolen. Also taken during the January search was more than $226,000 in cash.

According to police, undercover officers and informants began buying drugs around the clock in the neighborhood. Detectives identified more than two dozen dealers prior to Thursday’s arrests.

“We think we have the bulk of the people selling drugs in the area,” Detective Todd Jakobsen said in a statement.

Police also raided a tent in the woods under Interstate 5 nearby that officers believes was being used by suppliers to store and sell cocaine. The tent was also recently the site of at least one reported shooting.

Detectives also searched the Thanh Tam restaurant there, where they believed drugs were being sold. According to the police statement, officers recovered $17,000 and a 1/2 ounce of cocaine.

Two food stamp fraud rings were also broken up, according to police.

Two groceries in the area were paying food stamp recipients 50 cents on the dollar for their benefits and sometimes offering up crack cocaine in lieu of cash, police spokesman Jonah Spangenthal-Lee said in a statement. Officers seized $424,000 in cash from one store.

It was during the food stamp investigation that detectives came to believe a woman was reselling shrimp purchased with bought benefits cards.

Following her at all hours briefly, detectives watched as the woman sold $1,000 worth of frozen shrimp she had just purchased through the fraud, according to the police statement. When detectives later arrested her, the woman had approximately twenty 50 pounds bags of rice in her van.

“Her minivan was weighed down so much it was sitting three inches off the ground,” Jakobsen said in the statement.

Starting Saturday, community organizations and police will begin an intensive effort to keep criminals from returning to the area.

“This operation will be good for the International District community,” Davis said.